HB 266-ELECTIONS & VOTER REGISTRATION    LAURA GLAISER, director of the Division of Elections, read into the record: In October 2002, President Bush signed the "Help America Vote Act," (HAVA) into law. HAVA is the result of a bipartisan effort in Congress to make sweeping changes to federal election laws to improve the overall administration of elections, increase accessibility to those with disabilities, and also to prevent voter fraud. Many changes required under HAVA do not require amending Alaska statute, but HB 266 includes those necessary to meet federal mandates. Changes recommended in the bill before you follow the intent of the federal law and do not place unnecessary burdens on the voter. It is imperative that these changes mandated by federal law are passed by the Legislature this year. HB 266 also includes changes the division recommends. The division supports the language recommended in Senator Lincoln's SB 24, and it has been included in this bill with her permission. Other changes regarding returning identification/voter cards to other jurisdictions, reference to a "master list," and adding types of information that can be provided by the voter when registering in person are requested by the division in this bill. The House State Affairs Committee removed the language suggested by the division changing the term "questioned ballots" to "provisional ballots." The federal law refers to "provisional voting," (which Alaskans refer to as "questioned voting") and the division originally recommended changing the references in statute to conform to the federal language. The State Affairs Committee also restored references to the division sending voters letters regarding the status of their absentee, questioned, or partially counted ballot in addition to the "free access system" required in HAVA. The House Finance Committee substitute removes perhaps the most significant change NOT mandated by the federal act. In the first two versions of the bill the division recommended replacing the terms "non partisan" and "undeclared" with the term "unaffiliated." As a result, there will be no changes to the current references to "non partisan" and "undeclared." SENATOR JOHN COWDERY questioned what the difference would be for someone showing up at the polling booth. MS. GLAISER replied there would be a difference for the voter that initially registered to vote by mail and therefore didn't have to show identification. Those voters would have to verify their identification. The idea was to get at voter fraud and those voters who have registered to vote in person and have typically voted in person would see no change. SENATOR COWDERY asked if not passing the bill would place the state in violation of federal law. MS. GLAISER said that with passage of the Capital Budget, $5 million federal dollars would be available to implement the law and another $4.1 million would be available by the end of the year. It's highly likely those monies would be taken back and the state would be served if the legislation were to fail. SENATOR COWDERY asked how the division would spend the money. MS. GLAISER replied much of the money would be spent on touch screen polling and on updates to the voter database. SENATOR LYMAN HOFFMAN asked why the division recommended the term "non partisan". MS. GLAISER said the regional supervisors believe most voters don't know the difference between "non partisan" and "undeclared" and they thought that it would help the voter to use the one term and provide a definition. The division defined "non partisan" as a person that doesn't affiliate with a particular party while an "undeclared" voter may have a particular party affiliation, but they don't want to declare that affiliation. SIDE B  4:20 pm    SENATOR COWDERY asked how "undeclared" would do in a closed primary. MS. GLAISER replied they both have the same access to the ballot and that is why making them one code or term would not affect their access to the ballot. SENATOR HOFFMAN noted they would still have to make a selection and couldn't cross over in a primary. MS. GLAISER agreed that is correct under the current law. CHAIR GARY STEVENS said the impact to the voter would be negligible if "unaffiliated" were selected as the term. MS. GLAISER replied that would be correct as long as the understanding is that you are either in a party or you are unaffiliated. SENATOR HOFFMAN remarked the voters that were frustrated in the last election would still be frustrated if this were to pass. MS. GLAISER agreed. She then noted the House passed a zero fiscal note with the bill, which was incorrect. The correct fiscal note is dated 4/15/03 4:16 pm and it shows $382,000 in federal receipts. Initially the fiscal note was zero because the monies were to have been shown in the Capital Budget. The minority members of the House State Affairs Committee asked the division to show that money. The analysis was the same and adopting the zero note with the bill was simply an error. CHAIR GARY STEVENS asked for a motion to adopt the corrected fiscal note. SENATOR COWDERY made a motion to remove the fiscal note dated 4/11/03 2:53 pm and adopt the fiscal note dated 4/15/03 4:16 pm. There was no objection. SENATOR COWDERY made a motion to move CSHB 266(FIN) and attached fiscal notes from committee with individual recommendations. There being no objection, it was so ordered.